Another week, another Libra crypto article. Last week I reported on the five investors pulling the plug on Facebook’s Libra amid growing regulatory concerns. Now the currency is very much on its death bed and the chances of it being released are slim to none – which is pretty much as I predicted last week.
But – amidst all this doom and gloom, there could be a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for Facebook’s Libra.
What Has Happened Since Last Week?
It is safe to say that there would have been a lot of uncomfortable meetings with financial backers behind closed doors over the last week and following on from five backers that completely pulled the plug. It is also safe to say that the regulatory spectre that is looming over Libra hasn’t gone away, nor will it.
The harsh fact of the matter is Facebook is huge as an entity anyway and governments would be amiss to even allow it any kind of leverage in the global banking arena. Facebook is already powerful enough without being the currency that everyone relies on. It is for this reason that leading financial institutions like JP Morgan have openly come out and stated that the Libra crypto is dead.
But Is Facebook’s Libra Dead?
In its current form yes. That is why Facebook have been “exploring” other options and are looking to make Libra a digital version of a real-world currency. Their logic is that being a stablecoin will go a long way to appeasing the regulators because the pricing will be predictable and fairer for those who trade with it and also that backing it against a real-world currency will alleviate the regulatory burden.
Will It Work? Can Libra Crypto Survive?
The answer is that it isn’t impossible, but it is highly unlikely. Here is why Facebook’s Libra is likely to be fully cancelled (probably within the next month or so).
- Even backing it to national currencies won’t make it fully stable as national currency values fluctuate.
- Payment providers like VISA, PayPal, Stripe and eBay have all now left the building and pulled payment support for Libra.
- No matter which door it looks for escape it will always lead back to the regulatory nightmare that it opened for itself. Facebook will always be expected to operate from that point like a bank and abide by strict banking codes which would end its social media empire.
Ultimately when all is said and done, Facebook will be left with a choice, Libra or Facebook itself. There is no regulatory body worth anything that is going to allow the two to co-exist and when that decision comes, we all know Facebook is going to bin Libra. The best they can really hope for now is to sell it to a third-party developer and hope to offset the losses they have made in production.